Last of the Salad Days
by James Tuddrussell
Summary: Naruto is training to be a med nin, Sakura has the Kyuubi, and Sasuke walks the path of the blind swordsman.  AU, Character death, violence, and mild language.


Last of the Salad Days, Chapter One: Renaissance

Naruto walked into the classroom where Iruka will separate them into teams, he briefly checked the clock on the wall and saw he was a few minutes early. When he found his way to his seat, he took a moment to take note of all the promising Genin.

He thought about who would likely be on his team. He knew it wouldn't be Ino, Shikamaru, or Chouji. No one had any doubts that they would be put together. Naruto also knew that Kiba, Hinata, and Shino would definitely be put together. Their abilities complimented each other nicely, and would make them almost unparalleled when it comes to tracking.

This left only two real possibilities: Sasuke, who Naruto respected because, even though he was blind, he was hands down the best fighter in the class. He took to ninjutsu like a duck to water, and has recently taken a keen interest in kenjutsu. The exquisitely crafted ninjato strapped to his back attested to that.

The other was Sakura, a girl that Naruto has taken a shining to. She has absurd stamina, and was a powerhouse when it came taijutsu. Naruto had noticed that she heals at an alarming rate, he made a mental note to bring it up with their sensei. Naruto looked up when he heard his name called, with a start he realized that he was right on all counts. He smirked. _'I really should go gambling more often...'_

When he realized that this 'Kakashi' was not going to arrive any time soon, Naruto reached into his medical bag and pulled out one of his books on advanced anatomy. Soon he was lost in his art.

A while later Sasuke was beginning to get restless, he could sense that he and his team were the only people left. He pinpointed Sakura easily, the girl practically stank of chakra. "Sakura, what's Naruto up to?" She looked over at her blond friend for a moment. "It looks like he's reading something." Sasuke nodded, then sighed. He missed reading.

Sasuke groaned, they have been waiting for almost two hours. He turned to Sakura again. "Should we go get someone? Maybe he's not coming." Sakura absentmindedly scratched her head. "He'll be here, the Hokage told me all about Sharingan Kakashi. That man would be late to his own funeral if he could think of a good enough excuse." Sasuke twitched at the word sharingan, he would have to speak with him later.

Naruto looked up from his scroll curiously. "You speak with the old man too?" Sakura whipped her head up at him. "Yeah... I go visit him all the time, he's like a father to me." Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. "Same here, though I think of him more as a perverted uncle than anything else." Sakura glared at him. "The Professor is not a pervert, he's a perfect gentleman!"

Naruto laughed. "Have you ever seen that orange book he keeps in his drawer?" Sakura nodded. "That is smut, literary trash. They should all be burned, and the author flogged." Kakashi, who had just arrived, carefully tucked his book away before anyone noticed. "Well, you all seem interesting. Meet me up on the roof." With that the Genin made their way out of the room.

Kakashi sat down, and looked at his Genin as they arrived. _'Naruto Uzumaki: Top of his class in academics, high to average marks in most shinobi disciplines, perfect chakra control, and he's on the fast track to being certified as a medical nin. Admirable, but it makes you wonder why someone so young is working so hard and so fast.'_

Kakashi looked to Sasuke as he sat down._ 'Sasuke Uchiha: Last of the Uchiha, lost use of his eyes during the massacre. He was hit with a fire jutsu when he tried to save his mother. No one really knows what will happen if he activates his bloodline. He will probably just get fancier looking eyes, but you never know.'_

The last Genin finally made her way on to the roof. _'Sakura Haruno: Jinchuuriki. Poor scores all around, but she has a definite talent for taijutsu. If they pass, I'll probably have to teach her some good ninjutsu. If only to put her awesome chakra stores to good use.'_

Kakashi bade them to tell more about themselves. Sakura looked annoyed at this. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Kakashi smirked to himself. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are varied, and my dream... Well, I'll tell you that when you're older."

Each of the Genin bristled at that. Naruto laughed. "He's an old ninja, they're all paranoid." The others laughed at that. Kakashi was aghast. "I'm not old..."

Naruto smiled knowingly at Kakashi. "That's what they all say. Anyway, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are medicine, ramen, helping others, and reading. My dream is to be the best damn medical ninja I can be, and to meet Tsunade." Sakura looked at Naruto with understanding, she looked up to Tsunade as well. Kakashi nodded, and beckoned Sasuke to share.

Sasuke sat up and smirked. "My name is Sasuke, my likes are training and onigiri... Though not particularly at the same time. Onigiri is my favourite for a lot of reasons: It keeps well during travel, it's neither too expensive nor too cheap, it comes in many fillings, and... I should probably stop talking about that... My dream is to find out why my brother did the things he did, and to bring him to justice."

Sakura sighed. "My name is Sakura, I like... Uh, stuff... My favourite food is umeboshi, and my dream is to... Be a good kunoichi I guess... Never really thought about it."

Kakashi smiled. "Well now that we know each other a little better, I'll tell you about your test tomorrow. I will be testing your aptitude, to see whether you're fit for duty. If you're not up to snuff, then it's back to the academy with you!"

Naruto scowled. "You can't be serious! We passed our test already!" Kakashi stood up, and brushed off his pants. "True, but that only means you have the basic skills a Genin needs. My test is to see if you have the right mindset to be Genin. If you don't, then you'll have plenty of time to work on that when you're not studying for tests you already know the answer to!" With that, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, which momentarily confused Sasuke's chakra sense.

Naruto straightened up, and invited his new teammates for some ramen. They declined in turn, and the three of them made their way to their respective homes. Tomorrow was a big day after all, they need to prepare.

_To be continued..._


End file.
